must have a spot where he can rest in the shade when he wakes up and where he can perform the prayer.’ ʿAmmār then gathered stones and built the Mosque of Qubāʾ; it was the first mosque to be erected—meaning in Madinah. In fact, it was the first mosque in which the Prophet ﷺ openly led his Companions in congregational prayer and the first mosque constructed for the Muslim community at large. Other places of prayer had been built earlier, but they were private, intended only for those who put them up, as has already been mentioned in ʿĀʾishah’s report about Abū Bakr building his own mosque.

A ḥadith concerning the Prophet’s ﷺ construction of the Mosque of Qubāʾ—one that is somewhat unusual—has been narrated by al-Ṭabarānī in al-Kabīr from al-Shammūs bint al-Nuʿmān. She said: “I watched the Messenger of Allah ﷺ when he arrived, dismounted, and laid the foundations of this mosque, the Mosque of Qubāʾ. I saw him lift a stone—or even a boulder—until the rock itself would tilt, and I could see the white dust on his belly, or around his navel. One of his Companions would come and say, ‘May my father and mother be ransomed for you, O Messenger of Allah; hand it to me so I can carry it for you,’ but he would reply, ‘No—take one like it yourself,’ and he continued in that way until he had completed its foundations. He also said, ‘It is Gabriel—peace be upon him—who is directing the qiblah toward the Kaʿbah.’ People therefore used to say that this mosque had the most accurately aligned qiblah.” Al-Haythamī (4/11) remarks: “Its narrators are trustworthy.”

Even so, I do not deem the report sound, for it is transmitted through ʿĀṣim ibn Suwayd from ʿUbayd ibn Wadiʿah from her. Ibn Abī ʿĀṣim and al-Zubayr ibn Bakkār recorded it through two chains from ʿĀṣim, both in abridged and extended forms. Ḥasan ibn Sufyān and Ibn Mandah likewise produced it through the route of Salamah ibn ʿĀṣim ibn Suwayd, but he differed over ʿĀṣim’s teacher, reporting it as ‘from his father, from al-Shammūs,’ and so forth.